A gunman fatally shot his elderly mother, his daughter and his daughter\u2019s boyfriend inside the doomed family\u2019s Bronx NYCHA apartment and then took his own life Wednesday morning, police source said.<\/p>\n
The 44-year-old shooter called an out-of-state relative and said, \u201cCheck on your family,\u201d according to a police source.<\/p>\n
That relative called a local family friend, who went to the apartment in the Castle Hill Houses on Lacombe Ave. near Castle Hill Ave. about 9:40 a.m. and cops were called.<\/p>\n
Inside, they discovered the shooter dead on the couch with the murder weapon still in his hand, police sources. His 26-year-old daughter was dead in the rear of the home along with his 75-year-old mother, the sources said. The daughter\u2019s boyfriend, believed to be in his 20s, was dead near the apartment\u2019s door.<\/p>\n
The shooter\u2019s and victims\u2019 names were not immediately released.<\/p>\n
Henry Tucker, 60, lives in the building and has known the family all his life. He identified the slain family matriarch at Theresa Stukes, who just celebrated her birthday on Oct. 30.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe grew up with each other,\u201d he said. \u201cI loved her family. Obviously, it\u2019s devastating what happened to her and her family \u2026 She watched me grew up. I watched her age well. Her family is like my family. Her children, her grandchildren, we had a genuine love for each other. A wonderful woman\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m like everyone else, in shock,\u201d he added. \u201cShe did not deserve this. Her family did not deserve this. She just celebrated her birthday a few days ago \u2026 It\u2019s just tragic all around.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tucker has known\u2019s the gunman\u2019s slain daughter since she was born. He said she was a health care worker.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was very quiet, always respectful,\u201d he said. \u201cJust went about her business. Very kind and gentle. She was definitely a sweetheart. Nothing negative i could say about her, from birth.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tucker even had a good relationship with the gunman.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe a month ago, I saw him coming in and out of the building,\u201d he said. \u201cHe was coming to see his mom. I was on my way home. We extended hand shakes and hugs: \u2018Love you, brother,\u2019 \u2018Love you too,\u2019 things of that nature. If anything was going on, he put on a good front. That\u2019s definitely what\u2019s making it even more troubling. I just never got the feeling that he was headed down this path.\u201d<\/p>\n
The gunman did a stint in prison when he was younger, Tucker said.<\/p>\n
He turned his life around, or it appeared that way,\u201d Tucker said. \u201c\u201dHe was doing well, working, taking care of himself \u2026 I never had any signs that he was off the deep end. if anything, if that was the case, it had to have just happened.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t get any negative vibes from him whatsoever,\u201d he added. \u201cThat\u2019s why it\u2019s shocking to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
The slain matriarch has another daughter, who was not in the apartment when the murder-suicide happened, Tucker said.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was obviously in shambles,\u201d Tucker said of that daughter learning what had happened. \u201cYou can only imagine how she\u2019s feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jeannette Martinez, 48, said she was \u201cheartbroken\u201d when she found out about the incident after a NYCHA worker cleaning the building broke the news to her, later discovering Theresa was one of the victims.<\/p>\n